


The Day It Rains Roses

by jusrecht



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-14
Updated: 2009-02-14
Packaged: 2018-02-11 10:58:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2065578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jusrecht/pseuds/jusrecht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Highschool!AU. And it's February 14th.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Day It Rains Roses

  
Of all the awkward situations he had had the misfortune to find himself in, this must rank somewhere among the top five.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Suzaku apologised, as best as he could, but there was no stemming the tide of her tears. The girl looked down, her small fingers clenching the colourful package she held close to her chest, and the sight almost made him reach out and touch her quivering shoulders. But that would be beyond moronic, he paused to remind himself, and the awkwardness spiralled down into a cold lump in his stomach and forced him to still his hand. I shouldn’t have left his friends, Suzaku lamented silently. There was safety in numbers, especially on days like this.   
  
The girl did not look up again. She turned around and ran in the direction of the school, leaving her hopes crushed beneath his feet. He bit his lips and told himself that it was for the best. There was no use getting sentimental over girls on Valentine’s Day, unless he wanted to complicate things. And she was a sweet girl too.  
  
“You could have done better.”  
  
Suzaku whipped his head up quickly, alarmed that there actually had been a witness to the earlier scene. The sight of his best friend up in a tree however, was comical enough to melt his momentary panic and make him laugh.  
  
“What on earth are you doing?”   
  
“What do you think?” Lelouch responded dryly. The sarcastic effect was rather ruined by the intense discomfort scrawled so palpably on his face as he shifted gingerly on the hard, gnarly bough. Suzaku didn’t even bother to tone down his grin.  
  
“Maybe I could have done better, but at least I’m not a coward.”  
  
“This isn’t cowardice,” Lelouch informed him haughtily. “This is strategy. I am merely precluding myself from the kind of predicaments like what you just faced.”   
  
“By hiding in a tree?”  
  
Lelouch narrowed his eyes. “Shut up.”  
  
“You skipped the last two classes,” Suzaku reminded him gently. Lelouch skipping P.E. was nothing new, but Art was a subject which held many allures to his friend. Whether or not their new teacher was one of the aforementioned allures was still open for debate, but the fact remained that Lelouch had never tried worming his way out of Art like he did so many other subjects, until today.   
  
Not that he needed them, but still.  
  
“I know my priorities.”  
  
“And hiding from the girls is the topmost in your list?”  
  
Lelouch did not bother to deign it with an answer. He looked away with a huff, his red fingers still gripping the bough tightly. Suzaku frowned and noticed the temperature for the first time, now that his embarrassment had completely worn off. The sky above them was now tinged with darker grey as dusk approached, but his friend did not make any attempt to relocate his person back to the ground.   
  
An idea which suddenly leapt inside his mind was impossible to ignore. Suzaku feigned a delicate cough. “Lelouch,” he said seriously – or at least tried to, but the spreading grin on his face might be much too telling. “Is it possible that you stayed there all afternoon because you couldn’t come down?”  
  
The indignant look on his friend’s face was enough. Suzaku laughed, and laughed, and spent a grand total of fifteen minutes waiting for the other boy to say ‘please’ after he rejected his offer the first time.  
  
  
-  
  
  
He hated Valentine's. Such a pointless celebration. Lelouch was of the opinion that love, one of the grandest passions there was, hardly needed this kind of petty tribute to honour its role in shaping the world. Not to mention all the flowers, chocolates, and every shade of pink and red which seemed to crowd his line of vision every where he looked. It was a sheer torture to survive the day in a school where the celebration was embraced so full-heartedly by most of its inhabitants.  
  
Although maybe he wouldn’t mind so much, if not for the amount of unwelcome attention he had to endure throughout the day.   
  
And the chocolates too.  
  
He had spent the better part of the morning looking for a suitable hiding place – which the girls would not even dream of checking, he had kept reminding himself sternly. After his disastrous choice for three consecutive years in junior high, Lelouch knew better than to look down on the obsessive determination of teenage girls. Those who appeared to be academically challenged for the rest of the year, might suddenly and miraculously gain a huge increase in their intelligence quotient when it came to locating him on this particular day. Suffice to say, Lelouch was determined not to be defeated for the fourth time. It would be a complete and utter insult to his intellect.  
  
A small forest which stood overlooking the tennis courts had then been chosen to be his refuge of the year. After a few minutes of sauntering under the sparsely leafed branches, he had singled out a tree which could provide him enough cover. Few students ventured into the forest at this time of the year and he would be reasonably safe, if not exactly comfortable.  
  
There were sacrifices, naturally. He had managed to fend himself against boredom with the aid of two books on metaphysics and another, a lighter one on peregrine falcons. The cold was another challenge he could really live without but chose to brave anyway, as long as it could keep the girls away from him. He had not, however, taken into account a little fact which concerned love confessions and that it often took place in reclusive, out-of-the-way spots – such as _the_ forest.  
  
Fourteen love confessions – and lots and lots of frustrations – later, Suzaku appeared. With a girl.  
  
Lelouch listened with growing impatience as his friend, his strong, fearless friend, the star of the basketball team – and _kyuudo_ , and judo, and who knows what other sports he excelled in – stuttered before heartfelt pleas and a little innocent batting of eyelashes. He was sorely tempted to throw one of his books at Suzaku’s head and would have done so, if his marksmanship was not so overwhelmingly inadequate that he thought he might hit the girl instead.  
  
Then again, Lelouch didn’t think he would mind that much – he harboured no illusion toward the frailty of the fairer sex – but it wouldn’t be appropriate.   
  
Perhaps.  
  
When Suzaku laughed at him and his inability to escape from his own hiding place, Lelouch suddenly wished that he had risked it.  
  
  
-  
  
  
“I’ll get your bag then,” Suzaku offered, still grinning broadly. Lelouch, who was busy straightening and dusting his clothes off dirt and leaves, threw him a cold, dignified glare.  
  
“I can get it myself, thank you very much,” he retorted icily. “And wipe that grin off your face.”  
  
Suzaku struggled to rearrange his expression, and would have succeeded better if his friend had stopped glaring at him. “There may be girls in the classroom still,” he reminded. “They seemed to be quite desperate when they discovered that you skipped Art.”  
  
The idea was enough to make Lelouch cringe. “Fine,” he murmured sullenly. “I’ll see you in the car. You’re going home with me today. Nunnally wants to see you.”  
  
Suzaku nodded – although not before rolling his eyes at the cavalier way Lelouch ordered him around, as usual – and sprinted ahead to the school building. The day was rapidly getting darker, but true to his prediction, a few girls were still adamant in their quest of proclaiming their love to the youngest master of the Britannia family today. Their eyes lit up when they saw him, but quickly dimmed again as they noticed that he was alone. One or two who were determined not to leave any stone unturned proceeded to intercept him and inquire – or demand, rather – on the whereabouts of his friend. Suzaku did his best to staunchly claim ignorance until they were satisfied and released him from their clutches.  
  
His classroom was empty, almost dark now that the light only came from the windows and the heavily overcast sky beyond. He couldn’t help a helpless smile at the colourful packages which crowded Lelouch’s desk. Always the same every year, since he had first met the other boy seven years ago. He scooped the gifts into the cradle of one arm, hoping none of them would topple over while he navigated down the stairs later, and then grabbed his bag and Lelouch’s.  
  
He was half-a-step outside the room when he almost bumped into someone. Suzaku moved out of the way just in time and looked up at a familiar face.   
  
“Mr. Maldini,” he greeted and nodded, the most polite one he could manage in that condition.  
  
“Suzaku,” the Art teacher replied with a smile which always made him feel slightly uncomfortable. “I thought everyone had already left.”  
  
“I’m just about to,” he explained hastily.   
  
“Excellent. I wonder if you can help me and give this to your friend.”  
  
It was the first time Suzaku noticed the flowers – white roses, about fifteen of them, tied together with a red ribbon. Nestled amidst their delicate petals was a pale yellow envelope – a card.  
  
“My friend?” he said uncertainly.  
  
“I waited for him all day, just as I promised, but he didn’t show up,” the teacher explained with a sigh. “Such a shame. I would love to give them to him myself.”  
  
“I’m sure he had other things, ah, more important things to attend to, Sir,” Suzaku scrambled through the lie quickly. “He even asked me to get his bag for him,” he added, making a point to show the bag in question.  
  
“I’m sure he did,” Mr. Maldini smiled again – it was intimidating, to say the least – and handed him the roses. Suzaku was now obliged to share his hand which was already busy holding the bags with the bouquet. “Well then, I hope you will say Happy Valentine’s Day to him for me.”  
  
“Certainly, Sir,” he returned it with a wary smile.

  
-  
  
  
Lelouch tossed the flowers to the front seat of the car to join the colourful mount of chocolate, evoking a vague smile from the driver and a scandalised protest from Suzaku.  
  
“He gave it to you!”  
  
“I don’t need it,” he said icily and slumped back to his seat with a huff, furiously wishing that none of his mortification was shown on his pale face. Next to him, Suzaku still had a displeased look on his face.  
  
“You could have been nicer about it.”  
  
“At least he didn’t see me throwing it away,” he muttered defensively. “I’ll give it to one of the maids. Their happiness should be enough to pay for his trouble.”  
  
There was no reply for a long time. Lelouch kept his gaze outside the window, all too aware of his friend’s disapproving silence but trying his utmost to pay no heed to it. Really, he couldn’t understand Suzaku at all. Not only that his interest in the matter was little if any at all, Mr. Maldini’s behaviour was far from appropriate of a teacher. As ignorant as he was to school rules, Lelouch was fairly certain that all institutions of education prohibited their teaching staff to seduce any of their students.  
  
Of course the fact that his elder brother, who not quite so incidentally was also Mr. Maldini’s close friend, was one of the most influential men on the school board should be taken into account, but propriety was propriety. His position was that of a teacher and _that_ should have put an end to this tomfoolery.  
  
Only obviously it had not.  
  
“He said he was waiting for you all day,” Suzaku suddenly spoke, his voice still laced with disapproval. Lelouch scraped the leftovers of his patience together, which nearly amounted to nothing, and stitched them onto his voice, to keep it on a reasonable pitch.  
  
“So were most of the girls in the school,” he retorted, adding a cynical smirk for a better effect. “I don’t see why I should make an exception on his account.”   
  
“But he seemed–”  
  
“Sincere?”  
  
“–to care about you,” Suzaku finished with a glare. “Surely you haven’t forgotten the one time–”  
  
“Suzaku,” Lelouch interrupted, his voice cold, “are you trying to paint me in the same colour as you?”  
  
The silence which followed was deafening. Suzaku stared at him, quick enough to grasp the sharp edge of his words, and Lelouch cringed inwardly when the incredulous expression on his face gave way to something uglier.   
  
“I can’t believe you, Lelouch,” his voice was low, stiff. Lelouch looked away, lips pressed together stubbornly, and said nothing. He hadn’t meant to touch the subject, and it was not as if it was any of his business whom Suzaku decided to be involved with. But the fact that he had just been acquainted with this piece of information a few weeks ago, and now Suzaku, pushing Mr. Maldini toward him – he didn’t even _like_ the man, and he was naturally suspicious of people whose intentions he could not perceive – as if he wanted them both to share this... defect.  
  
Lelouch swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth. It was cruel, what he was thinking. He had decided, when he had found out, that he wouldn’t care whether Suzaku liked men or women or both – and yes, even if the man in question turned out to be his exasperating older brother, who was Suzaku’s own guardian, who was twelve years older than him – but the accusation had just _slipped_ out. And it was not a defect, Lelouch scolded himself angrily. He had never been offended by anyone’s sexuality before, and he certainly was not about to start now.  
  
The rustling sound coming from his friend’s direction caught his attention. Lelouch watched furtively, from the corner of his eyes as Suzaku rummaged inside his bag, face drawn in concentration. The search continued for a few more seconds and then his hand suddenly procured a small plastic bag tied with a blue ribbon.  
  
“Here,” Suzaku muttered, extending the bag toward him. Lelouch stared at it, unsure whether to feel relieved, astonished, or horrified once he had indentified the content.  
  
And Suzaku was giving it to him.  
  
“What... is that?” he managed to ask in a weak voice after the initial surprise had ebbed a little. His hand was still refusing to welcome the offered gift before his brain announced that it was safe to do so.  
  
“Chocolate,” Suzaku said dryly and rolled his eyes, but a faint, nervous smile was taking shape on his lips. “I made a few yesterday and there were some left, so I thought...” He glanced away, frustration and embarrassment bursting into colour on his face. “Can you just accept it and ask nothing?”  
  
Lelouch complied wordlessly. He took the small bag and let it lie there on his palm, clasped loosely between his fingers, uncertain what to do with such a gift. Not only that it was the first time he had ever accepted – with his consent, that was – a Valentine’s gift, the fact that it was Suzaku who gave it to him summoned multitudes of questions which he was not exactly prepared to deal with right now.  
  
“For being a good friend,” Suzaku suddenly said again, so quickly that he almost didn’t catch it. Lelouch stared at him, and felt a lump starting to form in the back of his throat.  
  
“Look, Suzaku–”  
  
“It’s a day for love and giving,” the other boy cut him off before he could get the rest of the sentence past the hefty lump. Lelouch was torn between so many urges to hurt and berate himself, but there was a little guilty relief flaring inside him. He was extremely bad at apologising, and Suzaku – who was even worse at receiving one – knew it.  
  
He cleared his throat and attempted a normal conversation. “You know that I don’t like sweets right?”  
  
At least, the most normal one could think of under the circumstances, even if it sounded so utterly moronic to his ears.  
  
“It isn’t sweet,” Suzaku replied, a gleam in his eyes. “I mean, not really.”  
  
Lelouch snorted, but welcomed the trickle of relief that began to warm his cold insides. “You made this yourself?”  
  
“The wrapping wasn’t my idea,” Suzaku said quickly, his fingers playing with one of the many straps on his bag nervously. “I already said it wasn’t necessary, but Mrs. Krueger insisted because they’re for gifts and after all the help she had given me, it seemed rude to tell her no.”   
  
Lelouch did not comment on the appearance of this obscure name in his friend’s explanation, nor was he interested by it. He swallowed, observing the beautiful rose shape of the chocolate, and then murmured, “You didn’t have to do this.”  
  
“There’s one for Nunnally too,” Suzaku said, averting his gaze to the floor of the car. Lelouch let his gaze linger thoughtfully on the uncomfortable look on his friend’s face, and then moved to the chocolate, then back to Suzaku’s face. Gifts. February 14. He deliberated for a moment, and then decided that he knew what was going on.   
  
“Thank you,” he said quietly after he had successfully pushed most of the awkwardness out of his voice.  
  
“You’re welcome.” A pause, and then Suzaku added with a softer voice, “Sorry for butting my head unnecessarily into your business.”  
  
Lelouch looked at him and replied, sombrely, because he truly meant it and it was a little easier than apology, a little like the child of the moment, “Sorry for being a complete, unmitigated ass.”   
  
Suzaku smiled, looking exceedingly relieved that the tension between them had dissipated, and he just had to smile back. It took two people to smile naturally, he knew but never realised until now, or it would only be a mask one wore in front of oneself. Lies.  
  
He wondered if he could do something to return the favour.

  
-  
  
  
Her violet eyes were bright with fever and her hands were much too warm when she reached for his and placed the heart-shaped package in the cradle of his fingers.   
  
“I couldn’t make any chocolate this year, so I hope this is okay,” Nunnally said anxiously and Suzaku almost, _almost_ threw his arms around her small shoulders. He doubted Lelouch would appreciate the gesture, however platonic his intentions were. He fished out a plastic bag similar to the one he had given Lelouch earlier, tied with a red ribbon, and presented it to her.  
  
“Maybe it’s my turn this year,” he said and grinned at the delighted beam which suddenly brightened Nunnally’s face. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Lelouch taking the other couch and rolling his eyes.  
  
“Did you make this yourself?” she asked, turning the gift here and there to admire the shape.  
  
“Yes, but I can guarantee you that it’s edible.”  
  
“Oh, I have no doubt,” she smiled at him. “But this is so beautiful. I doubt if I have the heart to eat it.”  
  
“Well, then I won’t eat mine either,” he replied seriously.  
  
She pouted. “But that is unfair. The one I gave you isn’t homemade, of course they can’t be compared.”  
  
Suzaku raised his eyebrows. “What about last year’s chocolate? And the year before that? And the year before the year before? And the–”  
  
“You’re like a fussy old woman,” Lelouch interrupted, his voice dry. Nunnally giggled.  
  
“Did you give one to Onii-sama too?”  
  
“Lelouch already ate his in the car,” he answered with a snicker. His friend had been reluctant, in spite of his continuous assurance that _no, it isn’t sweet, for heaven’s sakes._ Of course he had been lying – it _was_ chocolate, after all – but Lelouch had given up in the end and even admitted that he had enjoyed the taste, despite his many complaints.  
  
“Oh,” Nunnally sounded hesitant, and it made him return his attention to her. “I mean Schneizel-nii-sama.”  
  
He gaped at her, at a loss for words. The question had caught him off guard, and perhaps his face betrayed a few things it should not have – because Nunnally suddenly looked down, pink blooming on her cheeks. Suzaku couldn’t say if he fared any better, with the heat which was suddenly rising to his face. He opted to look down, examining the floor under his shoes.  
  
It was Lelouch’s smooth voice which put an end to the awkward silence. “It’s time for you to rest, Nunnally,” he said, his gaze fixed on to that of his sister’s. Suzaku couldn’t tell if it was just so or Lelouch was, in fact, doing his best not to look at him.  
  
“But I was sleeping all afternoon,” she protested, her eyes flicking briefly toward him every so often, but never long enough to let him catch her gaze.   
  
“If you want to go back to school sometime this week, you must get plenty of rest,” her brother insisted.  
  
“Maybe I don’t,” she replied with a teasing smile but got on her feet, swaying a little. Lelouch placed a hand under her elbow to steady her. “I will see you again at school, Suzaku-san,” she addressed him, her smile and tone both apologetic. “Thank you for the chocolate.”  
  
Suzaku shoved the guilt which had suddenly quadrupled inside him aside and put on the best smile he managed to find as he returned the kind words. It was not difficult to admit to himself that his visit to the Britannia family residence bore a second purpose, but for his two friends to discover it in so indelicate a manner was certainly not part of the plan.   
  
“I will take her upstairs,” Lelouch told him. “I hope you don’t mind waiting for a minute.”   
  
“No, of course not,” Suzaku quickly said. A moment alone was a relief, after the near-disaster.   
  
  
-  
  
  
“What are you planning, Onii-sama?”  
  
Lelouch allowed a smile to betray his amusement. His sister always knew, somehow, when he was plotting something. It was a good thing that she hadn’t mentioned anything earlier, in Suzaku’s company.  
  
“Nothing you need to worry about, Nunnally,” he replied affectionately – evasion, maybe, but he wanted to keep the secret to himself for some reason. His arm was firm, comforting around her shoulders, but she looked up at him and frowned slightly.  
  
“This is Valentine’s Day,” she said, and there was a hint of unusual firmness in her voice. “I hope you’re not planning to play a prank on him.”  
  
“On the contrary, I’m giving him a gift.”   
  
“Really?” she sounded surprised, but the sceptical note in her voice was unmistakable.  
  
“Yes, it’s a surprise,” Lelouch assured her with another smile, his eyes flicking briefly to his watch. He had sent the message forty minutes ago. It should be about time now.  
  
“Not chocolate?”   
  
Lelouch did not respond immediately, remembering Suzaku’s face in the car when he had decided not to inquire further about the chocolates or their purpose, and inwardly snorted. The only reason why he hadn’t continued to pursue the subject was because he already had all the facts he needed. By then, drawing the correct conclusion from them had been as easy as telling red from green.  
  
“Something better,” he murmured. “Much better, hopefully.”  
  
  
-  
  
  
“Suzaku.”  
  
The voice made him jump to his feet. His chest tightened, and Suzaku wondered, for a short, incredulous moment, if it was at all a natural reaction when one met one’s guardian. He would have identified it with other things which completely had nothing to do with guardianship, had the contemplative moment not been terminated so abruptly by a smile on the older man’s face.  
  
“Schneizel-san,” he replied belatedly. The smile was indulgent, like a father to his son, and he frowned at the contrasting feelings which rose in its wake – something warm and something tinged with disappointment, perhaps stronger.  
  
“Are you here to visit Nunnally?”  
  
“Yes,” he answered, in a frantic hurry to jump into explanations – the question hit much too near to his little secret. “She just went upstairs, with Lelouch. Said she needed more rest.”  
  
Now he sounded like an idiot. Suzaku struggled not to inappropriately blush as Schneizel’s smile widened. “I see.”  
  
 _No, you don’t_ , he wanted to say, but thankfully his tongue felt too numb to move. Much too aware of his growing nervousness, he seized the chance, the awkward moment of silence, to grab his bag before the numbness wore off completely and a new kind of reluctance set in.   
  
The box was square and of medium size, wrapped in gold-striped glittery paper and adorned with green ribbon. He just noticed how fancy it was, and tried, with all his might, to keep a reasonably calm face as he gave it to his guardian with a low, self-conscious murmur of _'Happy Birthday.'_  
  
The older man looked more curious than surprised. “This is for me?”  
  
Suzaku managed a little nod. “Lloyd-san told me a few weeks ago,” he explained, suddenly wishing that he hadn’t done all this – it seemed so ridiculous now, overstepping many bounds. “I’m sorry I didn’t know until then.”  
  
“It is no matter,” Schneizel waved it away. “May I open this now?”  
  
He swallowed his own cowardice and muttered, “Yes.”  
  
The wrapping paper shed its purpose with a lot of noise, cast off to a nearby couch in crumpled gold and green. Suzaku watched silently, resisting the allure of stupidity – like running out of the room, and how he very _much_ wanted to do so right now because he had never felt fear like this before. The box itself was plain, with a transparent lid which showcased the content with perfect ease, four small roses made of chocolate.  
  
“I couldn’t think of anything – any worthy material thing, I mean – as a present,” he explained in a sudden quick rush of words. “So I thought maybe something edible is better, and Mrs. Krueger who lives next door used to work in a confectionery. She knows how to make delicious chocolates and had the necessary utensils, so I asked her to–”  
  
Suzaku shut his mouth after the bit of chocolate slipped in, and for a moment his guardian’s fingers lingered on his lips. He tasted the thick sweetness, and then the slightly bitter tang of rum on his tongue, spreading in his mouth like an intoxicated kiss, the one Lelouch had caught them sharing at last year’s Christmas party. The memory made him look away, even as he pretended that the chocolate was to blame for the heat clambering all over his face. A few stolen glances told him what he needed to know: two of the chocolates were missing.  
  
“It’s delicious, thank you.”  
  
Suzaku looked up and beamed, his cheeks still pleasantly flushed. As it turned out, fortune did favour the bold after all.  
  
  
-  
  
  
Lelouch leaned against the adjacent wall, waiting, the idea of eavesdropping nudging on his conscience lightly – but he reasoned it smoothly away, panache and acumen in hand. His brother, of course, had been careful to leave the door slightly ajar. He was meticulous on details like that.  
  
(But of course, it takes one to know one.)  
  
He heard Suzaku’s voice, too soft to mean anything to his ears, and then silence – the kind of silence that made him feel too crowded even with himself, for whatever reason. He thought about a kiss, the silence it inevitably brought in tow, and felt slightly nauseated as the result.  
  
“Well then,” now it was his brother’s voice, deep and clear, and Lelouch imagined a falcon in its flight, under its master’s smooth order, “I’ll see you again on Saturday.”  
  
He moved away from the door, careful enough not to make any sound. His brother walked out a few seconds later, all grace and complacency, and Lelouch made sure not to show anything in the curve of his lips, or the icy glaze in his eyes.  
  
“Happy Birthday,” he said instead, politely.  
  
Schneizel did not seem surprised to see him there – he was far better than that. “Thank you,” he replied, just as polite, with a smile which had beguiled many business associates and countless women of standing – and now his best friend. “And there I was thinking you couldn’t possibly remember.”  
  
“Didn’t you accept my present?” Lelouch replied dryly. He would have smirked, but the day had been exhausting and he was still having an argument with himself, whether to warn Suzaku or not. He thought it was an infatuation – he _still_ hoped it was merely an infatuation. Momentary. Fleeting. A spell which would end with the rise of the sun.  
  
“A very fine one, indeed,” his brother acknowledged with a nod and a smile, this one noticeably more personal. Lelouch pursed his lips but said nothing.   
  
“Is Nunnally upstairs?”  
  
He nodded, the action almost abrupt, and did not wait for his brother’s response to turn his back and enter the lounge. Suzaku was sitting on the edge of a sofa, eyes closed and hands clasping each other, as if in prayer. He opened his eyes when Lelouch slowly approached, his grin brighter than any he had carried throughout the day, and Lelouch held his tongue.   
  
He never believed that his brother could care for someone, love even less, but there would be other days, _better_ days to deal with it. He sank into the couch, sighing deeply when Suzaku asked, with a voice which continued to betray the extent of his happiness, what he was going to do with the mountain of chocolates he had received that year.  
  
Lelouch counted the number of his household staff loudly, earning himself a helpless laugh brimming with amusement from his friend – and vowed to himself, at least not on Valentine’s Day.   
  
_**  
End**_  
  



End file.
